1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to a refrigerator, and more particularly to an assembling structure between a door which opens and closes a storage compartment of a refrigerator and a handle extended in shaft form in a length direction of the door and mounted on a front of the door, where the assembling structure provides simple and convenient attachment of the handle to the door.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, refrigerators are used to preserve contents stored in a storage compartment in a cold or frozen state, by refrigerating the storage compartment formed inside a main body thereof using cool air generated by an evaporator of a refrigeration cycle.
The storage compartment is provided in the main body, as opened toward the front, and the main body has a door at the front thereof to open and close the storage compartment.
The door is hinged upon the main body and opens and closes the storage compartment by pivoting. A handle is formed on the front of the door for a user to conveniently open and close the door.
Generally, the storage compartment is partitioned into a refrigerating compartment and a freezing compartment. Accordingly, a door for the refrigerating compartment and a door for the freezing compartment are separately provided for independent opening and closing between the compartments. Recently, the trend is toward a side-by-side refrigerator in which the refrigerating compartment and the freezing compartment are divided left and right, and the refrigerating compartment door and the freezing compartment door are mounted to the both front sides of the main body in a length direction of the main body.
In some of the above-type refrigerators, the handle for opening and closing the door has a long shaft form extended lengthwise in a vertical direction of the door such that even a child of small stature or a person who is sitting is able to easily hold and operate the door.
More specifically, since the handle is extended lengthwise in a vertical direction corresponding to the length of the door, the handle is mounted by at least two fastening units for a stable connection, keeping a predetermined distance from the door along the length direction.
In general, the fastening units each comprise a first fastening member fixed to the door, a second fastening member fixed to the handle, and a third fastening member fixing the first and second fastening members to each other. The first and second fastening members may be fixed directly to the door and the handle, or through a dedicated screw. The third fastening member usually has the screw form.
In the conventional mounting structure for the refrigerator handle, however, the first and second fastening members are fixed to each other by the third fastening member after being respectively fixed to the door and the handle. Therefore, processes for fastening the third fastening unit are increased according to the number of the fastening units. Furthermore, some operators have to hold the handle and the door while the others are fastening the third fastening member until the plurality of fastening units are all fastened. That is, several operators are required to fasten the handle to the door by the conventional fastening process.